Monster vs. Boy, page 14
“You do. I’ll read your report in a minute. Right now I need to check if Officer Rashmi and Ronny have captured the monster. Okay?” Until it was locked up, he was bait in a trap.
“Hurry back,” she said. “I’ll show you everything.”
The kitchen was filled with the scent of Pop’s savory bastilla pies—one of the recipes he’d taught Dawz back when life was normal. Rows of mouthwatering pastries sat cooling, while Pop kneaded more dough.
“I’m glad you’re up.” His gaze landed on Dawz’s cheek. “Dr. Lin will be stopping by to check on you soon. How’re you feeling?”
“It hasn’t started healing yet, if that’s what you’re asking.” He put a hand over his bandage. “Did they catch the monster?”
The creases in Pop’s forehead deepened. “We’ll hear when they do.” He dusted flour off his hands and then pulled a sheet of roasted almonds from the oven, filling the air with a nutty scent. Last time they’d made this recipe, roasting the almonds had been Dawz’s job.
“It’s been hours.” Dawz slumped against the island, where Pop had left out a plate of cranberry muffins with a pot of jam. “Can we call Officer Rashmi or Ronny?”
“They’ll call when they have something to tell us.”
Dawz thumped a muffin onto his plate. Pop didn’t understand. The monster was after Dawz. If Officer Rashmi and Ronny couldn’t stop it, he would have to.
He considered calling Ronny or the police station himself. But he hated to admit that Pop was right. Officer Rashmi and Ronny would have told them if they’d caught the monster.
“After you eat, can you check on Jayla?” Pop stirred the pie filling in a pan on the stove. “I’m behind on so many orders.”
“I just saw her, and she’s fine.” He bit into the muffin. Sour with the right amount of sweet. It reminded him of the canceled Bakers’ Brawl and how everything good was falling away and soon this monster would be all that was left. Was that what had happened to Mom? Was that why she left to hunt her monster?
“Maybe you could do something with her after Dr. Lin visits?” Pop said.
Dawz wanted to refuse. Why should he be helpful when Pop wasn’t? Besides, Jayla didn’t need to be watched. If she was smart enough to throw flour on a monster she couldn’t see, then she could handle a morning alone in her room.
That’s when an idea came to Dawz. Maybe he didn’t need to face the monster all by himself. After all, it hadn’t worked out for Mom. At least he could get help preparing.
“I’ll watch her if Atlas can come over,” he said.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea—”
“I want to build monster traps. Jayla can help.” She’d proved how useful she was.
“Why? You’re not leaving this house or hunting that monster—”
“They’re for around my bed. Because I can’t sleep at night.” And because he needed to be ready for this monster—day or night.
Pop took off his oven mitts. “You know Officer Rashmi and Ronny are doing all they can to keep us safe in the house, right?”
Dawz leveled a gaze at Pop. Nowhere was safe. “Traps won’t hurt. I need to do something.”
Pop sighed. “Fine. Atlas can come after Dr. Lin’s gone. If it’s okay with Thea.”
Chapter 31
Dawz called Atlas, who convinced Thea to let him come over after lunch. When Dawz told Jayla they were going to build traps with Atlas, she shoved her notebook at him.
“Good thing I invented a trap.” She pointed to her drawing of one made from an upside-down umbrella. It was baited with books. “See?”
“That might work, but won’t we need something stronger than an umbrella? The monster could tear it apart.”
“Exactly.” She pointed again. “This trap has a bell. If the monster rips the umbrella, the bell will warn us she’s here.”
She. Was it a she? He tried not to think about it.
“But if she reaches into the trap for the books,” Jayla continued, “this knot will hold her arm. It may only trap her long enough to ring the bell, but we’ll know where she is. It’s a warning trap!”
Wow, he’d underestimated Jayla. “Let’s see what else you’ve got in that monster report.”
“I have this idea for a monster bomb.” She grinned.
“What?” He sat on the floor beside her. “Show me.”
* * *
—
When Dr. Lin arrived, he examined Dawz in the large bathroom off Pop’s bedroom while Pop hovered in the doorway. Dr. Lin put on his gloves and mask. He explained that the city lab tests on the monster’s scales came back as negative for toxins, although Dawz’s tests had shown he had an unidentified infection.
No kidding.
Dr. Lin shone a headlamp on him and leaned in close, his stale coffee breath escaping from his mask. When Dr. Lin peeled off Dawz’s bandage with his gloved hand, his eyebrows rose.
How bad was it?
“Just as I suspected.” Dr. Lin switched off his headlamp and took off his gloves and mask. As if Dawz wasn’t toxic anymore.
“It’s better?” Dawz dared to hope. “Like Thea’s cuts?” Maybe Dr. Lin’s cream had worked. Or the medicine. Maybe this proved that Dawz didn’t have to handle everything by himself.
“See for yourself.” Dr. Lin smiled and stepped back so Dawz could see in the mirror over the sink. “The infection has cleared. I’ll monitor it, but you’ve turned a corner.”
Dawz gazed at his reflection, touching the rough patch of skin on his cheek. It was no longer oozing. It had a greenish-purple scab, which was bad enough, but not as bad. “Can I go out now? Can I bake?”
“Wait one more day. But then, yes, you can.”
Finally some good news. “Isn’t that great, Pop?” Dawz turned to where Pop was leaning against the doorframe, his eyebrows knotted like pretzels as he typed on his phone.
“Pop?” Dawz’s voice came out high-pitched. What could be more important than this?
“That’s excellent news,” Pop said, but he didn’t sound convinced.
The words pricked at Dawz.
Maybe Pop would never stop worrying that Dawz would become a monster like Mom.
* * *
—
It was great to be rid of the pus, but Dawz wanted the greenish-purple scab to fade as soon as possible. For the rest of the morning, he kept ducking into Pop’s bathroom to see if it had healed yet. Before lunch, Dawz dug out Pop’s handheld mirror—the one that could magnify his cheek.
That’s when Dawz saw them.
Tiny scales. In. His. Scab.
Where the green had faded.
Purple scales so small he couldn’t see them without the magnification.
Scales! On his cheek.
He scrubbed at them with soap and a cloth, then examined his cheek in the mirror again. The green had flaked off to reveal more scales.
Dawz’s hands began to tremble.
He wasn’t healing. He was becoming a monster. Maybe this was how the monster would absorb him. By infecting him, then taking him over, scale by scale.
It was a secret too terrifying to share. Not with Pop. Not with Jayla. Not even with Atlas.
He wished he could run away from it. Banish it before anyone found out.
Had Thea developed scales? But Atlas would’ve told Dawz if that happened.
Dawz’s fingers fumbled as he covered his scales with three bandages. He was the most monstrous human in the whole world.
* * *
—
Atlas arrived in time to help Dawz and Jayla haul their supplies to the backyard, which Pop had reluctantly agreed to let them use. He was still cooking in the kitchen, and every so often his head would appear at the window to check on them. Dawz could imagine the look on Pop’s face when he discovered Dawz’s scaly cheek.
“My mom didn’t want me to come here.” Atlas dropped two jugs of molasses beside the empty water balloons. “Because the monster’s always showing up where you are.”
“Maybe she’s right.” Dawz sank onto the picnic-table bench. He couldn’t shake the feeling that asking for Atlas’s help had been a mistake. Maybe he shouldn’t be near anyone he cared about. Maybe he shouldn’t be near anyone at all.
“Shut up.” Atlas plopped next to him. “I told her that you were my friend, and you needed my help. And I reminded her about the extra patrol cars around your house.”
“Extra patrols?”
“Yeah, didn’t you know?”
Dawz frowned. “Pop didn’t mention them. He just keeps saying that Ronny and Officer Rashmi will keep us safe, but I’m not sure they can. How are your mom’s scabs?” He wondered what Atlas would think of his scales if he found out.
“Fine.” Atlas didn’t seem concerned. “Let’s make some monster traps. Then you’ll feel better.”
“Don’t forget about the monster bombs.” Jayla appeared around the corner of the house, carrying an overstuffed cardboard box. “They’re made of balloons filled with sticky, brown molasses. If the monster shows up, we throw them at her so everyone can see her.”
“Cool idea! I’ll make those.” Atlas sounded cheerful. Too cheerful.
“I’ll make the traps.” Jayla began unpacking books, netting, rope, bells, and umbrellas, while Atlas opened a jug of molasses. Dawz touched his bandages, confirming they were still in place. Somehow, he needed to fix his cheek before anyone found out. If he destroyed the monster, would it help? Dawz shuddered at the thought. His mom had tried and failed.
“Did you hear me?” Atlas was peering at him. “What’s wrong with you?”
Everything, Dawz wanted to say.
Atlas mimed throwing a monster bomb across the yard. “We could mix hot sauce into the molasses so it would sting.”
“Sure.” Dawz tried to sound positive. “But what if it lands on us?”
“Never thought of that.” Atlas looked thoughtful.
“Plus, we don’t want to hurt the monster,” Jayla said.
Unless I have to. Dawz picked up a jug of molasses. Somehow, he had to figure out how to get rid of his scales before anyone found out about them—even if that meant battling the monster.
* * *
—
Atlas and Dawz set to work filling the balloons. Dawz snapped the opening of the first balloon over the nozzle of a molasses jug, and Atlas squeezed the jug until the balloon filled. It was a sticky job, and soon their hands were coated in molasses, which made tying the balloons a gooey challenge. But they slowly got better at it. When they ran out of molasses, Pop gave them a few squeeze-bottles of buckwheat honey as a sticky replacement. In an hour, they’d filled their three backpacks with monster bombs.
Atlas finished rinsing his hands under Pop’s garden hose. “Now what?”
“We set up the traps!” Jayla beamed. “I made four of them.”
Her traps were the upside-down umbrellas filled with three books each. She’d attached a netting over the open side of each umbrella, leaving a narrow gap in the netting for the monster to reach an arm through to get the books. Around the gap, she’d fashioned a knot to hold the monster’s arm if it reached for a book. The knot linked to the warning bell that would ring if the trap was sprung or ripped open.
“You and I can hide with bombs to throw—” Atlas said to her, already lifting his backpack.
“And Dawz can read to the monster,” Jayla finished. “That will lure her in.”
“How will you know when to throw them?” Dawz was already wishing he didn’t have to be the bait.
“When she springs one of the warning traps,” Jayla said like it was obvious.
“I can’t wait to see these traps work!” Atlas pretended to get his arm stuck in one. “I can ask to stay for a sleepover, in case it comes at night.”
“I can sleep in Dawz’s room too,” Jayla suggested.
For once, Dawz didn’t mind if Jayla crashed his sleepover with Atlas.
Chapter 32
Late in the afternoon, Dawz stood guard as Jayla and Atlas set up one trap outside by the back door and then another by the front. Officer Rashmi and Ronny should have caught the monster by now, but they obviously hadn’t because the prickle at the edge of Dawz’s left eye kept coming and going, as if the monster might be circling to taunt him. Out front, he scanned the street with his fists tight.
He almost wanted the monster to attack already. He wanted to be done with it.
He followed Jayla and Atlas inside as they dragged the last two traps to his room, setting them up on either side of his bed. Each trap was tied to something—Dawz’s dresser or the latch on one of the windows—so the monster couldn’t drag it away after it was caught.
“We should show Ronny what we did.” Jayla’s eyes sparkled.
“We will—right after we catch the monster.” Atlas sounded way too eager.
“Okay.” Jayla dropped a book on the bed. “Now, you sit and read,” she told Dawz.
He pressed his bandages flat for the millionth time to make sure they were covering his scales, but this time he could feel lumps through the bandages. As if his scales were growing.
His hands shook as he set his backpack of monster bombs next to his pillow. He tried not to think about what he was becoming.
“Let’s do this,” he said. They just needed to catch the monster somehow. It had started all this, so it could end it too, couldn’t it?
Unless the monster ended Dawz first.
He sat on his bed and picked up the book. It was one of his favorite novels—about a girl named Nuzira who defeated an army of giant spiders by tricking them. He was only facing one monster, but it was just as deadly.
“Where will you be?” he asked Jayla and Atlas. They each held a backpack of bombs.
“We’ll hide somewhere nearby,” Atlas said. “We can bomb the monster when it springs a trap.”
“Yes!” Jayla bounced in place. “I can watch the hall from my room.”
“And I’ll hide in Dawz’s closet.” Atlas unlocked the door and opened it.
Dawz cringed as his friend willingly went inside. He would never get used to unlocked closets. Never.
The smell of Pop’s chicken soup drifted up from the kitchen. Dawz ignored his growling stomach and opened the book to a random page.
“The invading spiders advanced across the field toward her,” he read, “but Nuzira refused to run.”
He felt foolish reading aloud, and he didn’t feel a prickle at the edge of his left eye at the moment, so the monster was probably too far away to hear him.
“She raised her shield and waved her sword over her head. ‘We will stand strong,’ she called to her troops. They were a ragged bunch, already battle-weary, but they waved their swords and chanted back at her, ‘Stand strong!’ ”
He understood how Nuzira’s troops felt. Waiting for something to happen was unnerving. Waiting for something monstrous was worse.
* * *
—
Dawz read about the spiders’ hairy legs as tall as tree trunks. Their fangs dripping with venom. He wished he was hiding like Atlas and Jayla. He wished he was brave like Nuzira.
He wished he wasn’t growing scales.
Just as Nuzira clashed with the largest spider of all, Dawz heard a creak in the hall. He leaped to his feet, ready to hurl the book at whatever might enter. But should he let the traps do their job first? Atlas burst from the closet with a bomb ready to throw. From her room, Jayla yelled something he couldn’t hear.
His door swung open. Pop entered with hands above his head. “I surrender!”
Dawz sank onto his bed, his chest hammering.
“So these are the traps?” Pop’s smile didn’t reach his eyes.
Jayla explained their plans, and Atlas joined in.
“Impressive.” Pop examined their backpacks of bombs. “Hopefully you don’t need to throw those inside the house.”
Once again, Pop didn’t understand. Who cared about a mess when a monster attacked?
“Have Ronny and Officer Rashmi caught the monster?” Dawz hoped the impossible had happened.
Pop looked uneasy. “They’re…uh…looking for it.”
Dawz felt his face get hot. “I led them right to it.”
“It slipped away, but they’ll find it again. Try not to worry.” Pop’s voice was forced. “Now, dinner’s ready. Chicken soup, anyone?”
How could he not worry? Dawz’s stomach growled, as if all that mattered was food.
Atlas licked his lips. “It smells great. But we’ll need to bring our bombs, just in case.”
“Should we bring the traps too?” Jayla asked.
“Let’s leave them here. We still have the ones in the yard.”
“Okay.” Jayla crossed the room.
Dawz picked up his backpack. As he hoisted it onto one shoulder, a strap slid against his cheek and caught on a sticky, curled-up edge of a bandage.
He tugged. All his bandages ripped off his cheek at once, stinging his skin before swinging through the air stuck to his strap. His cheek chilled.
Pop gasped. “Dawz! Your face!”
Dawz slapped a hand over his scales. How much had they seen?
“He’s gone scaly!” Jayla gaped. “And purple?”
Atlas only grunted, and for once Dawz couldn’t tell what it meant. But his friend’s stare was enough to make him hang his head.
Now everyone knew. He was part monster. Hideous.
He couldn’t hide it anymore.
* * *
—
A terrible pause filled his room.
He disgusted them. He knew it. He disgusted himself.
Pop took out his phone and started pressing buttons. “I’ll call Dr. Lin. Atlas, your mom should pick you up. Dr. Lin should check her too.”
